This was done as someone noticed it could be exploited -- and I guess the first solution that came to mind was to penalize every single type of swap instead.

So I propose a few different solutions.

1) Alternate Solution: Don't allow Chassis that are undergoing repairs to be swapped.

If you are looking for a solid solution that stops the exploit altogether, you should just stop the player from being able to swap out a Chassis that is undergoing repairs.

This would remove the need to assemble any Chassis when they are equipped because they would all be in a good state of repair.

Challenges - Communicating that something can't be swapped whilst it is being repaired -- you currently have a "Blinking" visual when something is docking, I'd just keep with that motif.

Players may want to change chassis rather than use the same chassis again, so the waiting is just annoying for them. Which is where #2 comes in.

2) Store the damage of the chassis:

If you were running a motor pool, you would want the nice shiny chassis to go to war, not the wrecked one. So, it makes sense that the chassis in better shape would be brought to the front of the queue when managing load outs.

If the player has done the math and worked out that the time to repair is way longer than the time to refuel and refit and they have something better to swap to, you should allow them to swap to the better chassis. It would be a mental load thing

If you stored the damage -

Then when the player grabs a Chassis it just grabs the one with the least/no damage.

This is what a real motor pool would do when swapping.

If you discard one (because we can no longer send them back to the warehouse) it just throws out the most damaged one.

Challenges- Data Structure Changes. Inventory for Chassis become an array that contains the health of chassis or something like that. -- Communicating that Array to players becomes challenging -- Though you do have a numbering system for the barges, so maybe something like that will help give each unit some form of identity that the player can feel an attachment to. "Good old "Manta 821" it served me well. "

3) Keep the current system

Hey, maybe the only way you can solve this is by keeping this system.

What about using alternative 1, but allow swapping only if the player chooses to discard/delete the damaged chassis?

This isn't even fun for role play with larger groups. Sitting and waiting 15 minutes for a Seal to get full HP so you can finally deploy ground forces is just frustrating.

At least make the HP regen rate moddable or something so players can decide for themselves what they want to play with.